Gennaro Gattuso has replaced Vincenzo Montella as Milan manager after a disappointing start to the season which saw the club slipped to six Serie A defeats in 14 games.

“AC Milan announce to have parted ways with VMontella,” a statement on the club official account read. “Management of the first team is entrusted to Gennaro Gattuso, who leaves his position as Primavera coach and to whom we wish the best of luck.”

Montella also tweeted saying that it had been an “honour” to have coached the side.

Gattuso, 39, made over 400 appearances for the club as a player between 1999 and 2013, won a brace of Serie A titles and Champions League trophies with the club. He has been head coach of the club’s youth team before being appointed as new first-team coach for the Serie A club.

While Milan have already qualified for the knockout stages of the Europa League with a match to spare, their dwindling domestic form has been a concern for some time.

They are in seventh place in Serie A, 18 points behind leaders Napoli. The decision was made by the club’s board after they were held to a goalless draw by Torino at the weekend.

The team, which was bolstered by over £205m worth of summer signings have won just twice in their last nine league matches, with their match against Torino being the fourth successive home league game without a goal.

A record of only six wins in Serie A have now cost Montella his coaching position as his impressive start to the campaign, winning 10 of the first 12 matches in all competitions, faded quickly.

West Brom let slip a two-goal lead on Tuesday as they drew 2-2 at home to Newcastle, but moved up to 16th place in the table ahead of Everton.

Pardew will take charge of his first game against former club Palace at The Hawthorns on Saturday, as Albion then face trips to Liverpool and Swansea before a home fixture against Manchester United.

The English coach has also had spent time at Reading, West Ham, Charlton and Southampton in an 18-year managerial career, highlighted with two FA Cup final defeats.

Former West Brom boss Gary Megson has taken temporary charge since Pulis’ departure.

“I will meet the chairman at 10:00 tomorrow, what about? I don’t know,” Megson said following the draw against Newcastle. “Something has to be done at some point. I was just told in the interim period to take the team. What I’ve done the last eight or nine days is what I’ve done for the last 20 years, so I have enjoyed all that.”

“I haven’t applied for manager jobs in the last three years but whatever happens now, if ones do come up I will apply.”

Lionel Messi has ended speculation of a move away from FC Barcelona by extending his contract with the club through to the summer of 2021.

The Catalan club also announced that the Argentina forward has had a 700 million Euro buy-out clause inserted into his contract, indicating that he will finish his career at the Camp Nou in all likelihood.

Club president Josep Maria Bartomeu, who described Messi as “the best player in football history”, said the new contract, with a significantly higher buyout clause, was “more in line with the current situation in the ever-changing world of football”.

“The buyout clause had to be modified,” Bartomeu added. “and it has gone from 300m euros to 700m euros. It fills me with pride to see him with us renewing his love for the club.”

“The objective is to continue achieving things and making history,” Messi said after signing his new contract. “We’ve been lucky enough to have won a great many things and I hope there will be more in the future. I’m happy to continue with the club, which is my home. My dream was to finish my career at Barca and we are moving down that path.”

Initially, a renewal had been agreed in principle between player and club in back July but it is only now that Messi has put pen to paper on the contract.

Messi, who joined Barca as a 13-year old made his senior debut as a 16-year-old in a friendly against Porto, has eight La Liga titles, four Champions League wins and five Copa del Rey successes under his belt during his time with the Catalan club.

He then made his first competitive appearance against Espanyol as a 17-year-old before coming to score the first of his club record 523 goals — which have come in 602 matches — against Albacete in May 2005, and has since claimed the Ballon d’Or on five occasions, more than any other player.

On his contract extension ceremony on Friday, Messi was presented with his fourth Golden Shoe award for being the top scorer in Europe, while his 30 trophies put him alongside his team-mate Andres Iniesta as the most anyone has won in club history.

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola said his had side “competed amazingly” as Raheem Sterling scored to rally from 1-0 down at half-time to win at Huddersfield.

Manchester City have won their past 11 away matches in all competitions — a record for a top-flight club in English football history, and also equal a club record of 11 successive Premier League victories.

“If you want to win the title you cannot expect easy games,” said Guardiola. “We have to live these kinds of situations and we spoke at half-time about how we are going to react. We spoke about not giving up, to keep going.”

“It is impossible to win every game easily, this league is so tough,” he added. “The guys competed amazingly, which is why we won.”

Huddersfield had the luck of getting their first goal through their opponent’s own doing, with City defender Nicolas Otamendi inadvertently turning the ball past Ederson, his own keeper inside the six-yard area.

However, Raheem Sterling won a penalty after half-time following a tangle with Scott Malone that ended with him on the floor.

It was the correct decision as Malone had his arms around his opponent as Sterling tried to break free, and Sergio Aguero converted the ensuing penalty through a precise finish from 12 yards, with over three quarters of an hour to play with stoppage-time factored in.

The winning goal then came 6 minutes from time for City, as a shot from Gabriel Jesus came back off Huddersfield keeper Jonas Lossl before striking Sterling on the knee and then looping in.

Despite tempers fraying at the final whistle with Huddersfield forward Rajiv van la Parra sent off following a clash with Leroy Sane, this was the first time City have come from behind at half-time to win a Premier League away match since April 1995.

City have also now accumulated 37 points from their opening 13 Premier League fixtures, a record of excellence stretching back seven months which also see them remain unbeaten for 26 games.